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Sep 17, 2018

CEO Report - September 2018

By Roger Kienholz - Chief Executive Officer
Welcome Julie

Let me introduce to you our new Vice President of Energy, Julie Kemi.  Julie started for us in May after most recently managing the Energy division for a cooperative in east-central Iowa.

Julie grew up in the Duluth area of Minnesota and began working for Best Oil company and truck stop while still in high school. A few years later she purchased the truck stop from her employer. She began her professional energy distribution career as the owner of Kemi Oil Company in 1999, selling the company in 2005.

Following her time in private business, Julie spent the next five years working with an international petroleum company building a startup US distribution channel across the southwest where she gained vast experience in shipping through the pipelines and terminaling products. In 2009, Julie started Petroleum Consultants Group, a consulting company where she provided fuel purchasing, pipeline shipments, storage, trading, and hedging advice to national petroleum jobbers and Wall Street investment banks. In 2014, Julie was offered the position as the Vice President of Fuel Supply for a fortune 500 retail chain and provided leadership to a group that oversaw the purchasing and transportation of 1500+ c-stores in 14 states. The company was later sold and Julie moved closer to home to be near family and took a position as the Energy Division Manager for a cooperative in east-central Iowa.

Education-wise, Julie started her education at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. Julie later earned a BSADA, Associate of Science Degree in Business Administration, and a MGMTB, Bachelor of Science Degree in Management & Leadership from Franklin University and is nearing completion of a Bachelor of Science Degree in Transportation and Logistics.

Julie and her husband Gordy and two dogs have found a home in Mankato and we are happy to have her as a valuable part of the Crystal Valley team.
 

Fiscal Year 2018 Comes to an End

August 31 marked the end of FY 2018 for Crystal Valley and we tallied sales of approximately $340 million for the year.  While the total sales are up from a year ago, our local net savings will be fairly similar to last year’s.

The Feed and Energy divisions performed well compared with the fiscal year budget.  Feed sales were up over last year with volumes at 443,000 tons.  The large corn drying season last fall and the long, cold winter helped increase propane sales by two million gallons over a year ago.  With an increased bushel handle from last year’s excellent corn crop, the Grain division exceeded its annual budget.  However, our Agronomy division was the most challenged this year as two-thirds of our trade territory experienced a late, wet spring followed by an extremely rain-soaked summer.  Therefore, fertilizer sales were down along with seed and chemical sales for the year.  We’ll be happy to get into harvest soon and the start of a new fiscal year.

Crystal Valley mailed out over 8,000 equity revolvement checks at the end of August with the total exceeding $2.5 million of patron equities retired in FY 2018.  As a reminder, we retire past deferred equities based on the age of the equity (by year earned) not by the age of the patron member. This year’s revolvement included the remaining 35% of 2003, 100% of 2004, and 15% of 2005’s deferred patron equities.  Estates of deceased patrons are revolved out in full on a monthly basis as we receive notification by way of a death certificate, funeral notice or obituary.

Thank you for your business and support this past year and we look forward to serving you throughout harvest and the coming new year!

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